Public invited to Kerr County Animal Control facility opening March 20

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A limestone sign front the roadway and reads: "Kerr County Animal Services" in black metal writing.

An L-shaped building featuring dark red, light and dark gray colors serves as the new Kerr County Animal Control site.Kerr County Animal Control’s new facility at 199 Spur 100 in Kerrville will be the site of a 1 p.m. ribbon cutting ceremony this Friday, March 20. The public is invited to attend and do a walk-through tour of the center they approved in a November 2022 bond vote. – Photo by Kerr County Public Relations Director Lisa Walter

Kerr County Animal Control invites the public to attend a brief ceremony, ribbon cutting and walk-throughs celebrating the completion and opening of its new facility this Friday, March 20.

Local leaders, citizens and all animal lovers are invited to attend the event, planned for 1 p.m. at the new Kerr County Animal Control (KCAC), site, located at 199 Spur 100 in Kerrville.

A brief ceremony will be held in front of the just-finished $6 million-plus building.

Expected to be on hand to offer remarks are:

• Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly

• KCAC Director Reagan Givens

• Former Kerr County Commissioner (Pct. 3) Jonathan Letz who served as the liaison commissioner for the then-named Kerr County Animal Services and has seen the project through as a consultant

• Kevin Bernhard, of JK Bernhard Construction

• Kerrville Pets Alive! founder and executive director Karen Guerriero

A ribbon cutting will cap the ceremony, after which the public will be invited to visit inside the approximate 15,000-square-foot structure (including sally ports and porch areas.)

Local voters decided in a bond vote to build a new animal control center to replace the old one, which was labeled “crowded, inefficient, inhumane and unhealthy.”

Listed on that November 2022 ballot as “Proposition C,” the new animal control facility proposal was the only one of three bond issues before voters that passed. Citizens voted “For” the project by a margin of 55.09%, winning out over the 49.01% who voted “Against”.

Peter Lewis was the architect who designed the new building, and JK Bernhard Construction – Laura and Kevin Bernhard was the main contractor who built it.

The new complex was just completed this week, and staff are planning to soon start moving in some donated furniture and other items needed to outfit their new home.

Kerr County Animal Control Director Reagan Givens has overseen this project from start to finish. He first joined Kerr County, Texas, as a deputy constable in the fall of 2011, and has now served as the department head of animal control since 2017.

When asked what he was looking forward to most about the move, Givens said: “In the old facility, we were constantly battling to put a bandage on things and to work around issues that arose with that site. Getting to start out new in a building that has specific areas designed for specific purposes to suit our actual day-to-day operational needs will be great. It is like starting out fresh with a clean slate for these animals, our staff and the citizens of Kerr County. I think it will make such a difference, and I look forward to it.”